Posts from the ‘Egg Stands’ Category

We speak to lots of folks who keep chickens and the degree to which flock owners’ track flock productivity varies wildly. Some flock owners track productivity mentally, taking note of things like egg count, color and size. Others we speak to go all out and create complex spreadsheets to track things like time of day laid, size, weight and location of each egg laid for each bird!

Keeping a record of your flocks’ egg production and laying habits is actually an important part of raising healthy birds. At a minimum, it is important to keep a record of the amount of eggs laid, preferably daily. As pointed out at farmingfriends.com “Poultry can stop laying and if you know the dates that this occurs it allows you to track any changes that may have occurred such as change in feed, weather, housing, lighting or the introduction of new birds which may all effect the egg laying of poultry.”

For us at Eggzy, we also believe in the many benefits of small-scale entrepreneurship that selling your eggs can enable. What Patricia Forman calls the Home Eggri-business. By tracking how many eggs you are getting from your flock today, you can determine how much you can expect to get tomorrow and next month and so on.

Why is it so important to track your flock productivity?

Helps to identify disease or illness

Helps to compare breed productivity – which birds are better layers

Allows you to project how much you can sell and as such earn from eggs sales

Helps to determine your return on investment from the birds

When you use Eggzy to track your flock production you’re accomplishing two things at once;

You’re capturing important flock behavioral habits and gathering important information that will help you to manage your flock.

You’re sharing your flock info with others who are interested in any surplus that you may have to sell.

They’ve only been raising chickens for little over a year and in that time they’ve gone from 12 to 65 birds (if you count the ducks and guineas!). Read on to learn more about how one family members interest in chickens influenced a lifestyle change for all!

Eggzy: Why do you use Eggzy?WK Homestead: We use Eggzy to track everything chicken. This includes: tracking our flock’s egg production, keep notes on how our chicken math is working, the average price per egg, and the age and breed of the chickens we have. We even try to keep track of which breed is laying. That isn’t always easy!

Eggzy: Tell us something about yourself?WK Homestead: Until recently, we lived in a city. Small yes, but it was a city. Like many cities, the keeping and raising of poultry was illegal. However, my daughter became very interested in chickens. She changed the ordinance regarding fowl, to allow the housing of up to twelve hens or ducks. It didn’t take long for us to have seventeen (including illegal roosters), and be above the legal limit for chickens . Because the whole family became interested in farming and agriculture, we found an old farmhouse and moved to a very rural community. We now have over fifty chickens.

Eggzy: How long have you been keeping chickens?WK Homestead: Our chicken raising adventure started in March of 2011. We purchased 12 baby bantams, and due to the fact everyone wanted eggs sooner than later, we soon added 4 adult birds. That is when we learned about chicken math… only a year and a half ago.

Eggzy: Why do you keep chickens (For eggs, for meat, for show, as pets, etc.)?WK Homestead: We keep chickens to amuse ourselves with their personalities (teaching them to perch on our shoulders, watching them fly across the cow pasture), keep our refrigerator stocked with eggs, and to have some rooster in the freezer when one gets old (or mean).

Eggzy: How many birds to you have?WK Homestead: We only have fifty chickens, but when you include the ducks and guineas we have a total of about sixty five.

Eggzy: How do you raise your birds, are they pastured?WK Homestead: All of our chickens are pastured. They are let out as soon as we wake up, and have access to anywhere they choose to go. Everyone asks us how we keep them out of the road. It is a community thing, the old chickens teach the new ones, and those teach their babies.

Eggzy: Do you have a favorite breed?WK Homestead: All of our family members have a different breed that we love. My son’s preference is the silkie bantam. My daughter loves the Belgian d’Uccle. My husband likes ones that lay large, preferably double yoked eggs, and I find that I am partial to Easter Eggers and Dorkings.

Eggzy: Do you name your chickens?WK Homestead: Yes, every single one of our birds has a name. It is a precarious thing naming birds. The farm mascot is Uffie, a black sikie hen. She runs everyone and currently is now the proud mom of 1 chick. All other chickens are currently staying far away from her.

Eggzy: Do you sell your eggs?WK Homestead: We will sell our eggs to anyone who wants to buy them. They are located in a self-serve fridge on the front porch.

Eggzy: Do you cull birds from your flock?WK Homestead: We cull and eat our birds for various reasons. If we have too many roosters, want to have a chicken dinner, or one is sick. There are a few chickens that have been deemed worthy of living a full life on the farm. Most are on some sort of breed/cull cycle.

Eggzy: Do you have any advice, tips or insights you would like to share?WK Homestead: When purchasing your first flock, join a website called BackYardChickens.com. This is an invaluable resource for help to get started and continue to raise a healthy, happy flock. 2. Build a bigger coop than you can think you can fill up. Chickens multiply, sometimes faster than rabbits. 3. Watch out for mites. They come in on hay and are hard to get rid of. 4. If you get a guinea, raise it with you flock from the start. 5. If possible, let your chickens free-range. They eat so many bugs, that there is a noticeable decrease in the ant, slug, spider, beetle, chigger, flea, tick, and caterpillar population. 5. Buy breeds that interest you, and that will be fun to watch and grow.

If you’ve ever been to our feedback page then you are sure to be familiar with Stephen. Hands down, he is our most active and vocal member, and we are all the better for his participation. Make sure to watch the video and read the full article, he’s an interesting person with a lot to say. Thanks for all your help Stephen!

Eggzy: Why do you use Eggzy?Home Girls: Basically I am kind of fanatical about record keeping and was searching for the best method of tracking my chickens and their performance. I found Eggzy through a Google search and liked the beta version that was being offered. I have made many suggestions for software improvements and much to my surprise most of them have been accepted and implemented. I also use Excel for some other data tracking. Ask me a question about my girls and between Eggzy and my Excel data I can answer most anything. Just don’t ask which girl laid which egg. LOL The marketing aspect of Eggzy was a plus and has proven to be the most beneficial part of the site.

Eggzy: Tell us something about yourself?Home Girls: I am retired from Lockheed Martin and currently teach “Armed Security Officers” (www.mysecuritylicense.com) here in Florida. Living on a 4 acre piece of land has allowed me to explore some less citified adventures. Along with the chickens, we are currently raising bees, rabbits and generally a nice garden. This year I failed at the garden. I guess I was concentrating too much on other endeavors and not nearly enough on tilling and planting the good earth. We will have a nice harvest of honey this fall though.

I have also been designing a new electronic system to help myself and others as they start and expand their own flocks. I hope to have a shippable product late this summer or early fall. I am sure that even if a flock owner does not obtain a device for themselves they will be able to easily see the advantages the system will provide. Keep an eye open for the initial release of my product right here on Eggzy.com.

We’ve added a ‘Favorite’ feature to Eggzy! With this new feature you will be able to collect and save egg stands to your account, enabling a system of short-cuts to access those saved flocks whenever you want without having to do a zip code search each time.

Favorites can be identified by a small icon of a badge (or ribbon). The icon is either grey or gold depending on the selection state; grey if unselected, and gold when selected.

UnselectedSelected

The grey Favorite icon can be seen by all who visit the site but can only be selected (made gold) by logged in Eggzy members. The new Favorites feature exists in three places across the site so you can easily identify those flocks you buy from, sell to, or simply admire: